a free blog about worldwide events

Main Menu

Historical quotations on Monsanto ..

Monsanto is at the top of my hit corporate evil. Why? Here is a brief list of the many irregularities and crimes they have committed outright:

Monsanto is the largest producer of GMOs in the world, from the infamous”Agent Orange” defoliant used in the Vietnam War, up to the GM maize, cotton with insecticide incorporated, bovine growth hormone used toproduce more dairy cows, causing serious side effects, including mastitis,then treated with antibiotics that are found in high concentrations in milkcollected on our tables, then about to be consumed. All products designed, analyzed and results if not directly harmful, harmful in its consequences resulting from their use.
The strong political influence at the international level, I would say overall, the stock of capital available to continue to increase, an organized network of scholars and salaried contracts with Monsanto being handsomely rich,easy to make more than disinformation and falsification of analysis.

Subpoena of small farmers for patent infringement after the wildfire spread of Monsanto GMO seeds in the fields of neighboring farmers, who have defiled their conventional crops.

Exhaust secret toxic waste loads of PCBs in a river in Alabama, and the discharge of millions of pounds of PCBs into open landfills for decades after PCBs were banned in the United States as potential carcinogens.

Pleaded guilty to bribery to bypass the Indonesian law that requires an analysis of the environmental assessment for its genetically modified cotton.

Last year, the Supreme Court of France said Monsanto guilty of false advertising in the state its herbicide Roundup as “biodegradable” and “environmentally friendly”. The scientific assessment found that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup is acutely toxic to fish and birds and can kill beneficial insects and soil organisms that maintain ecological balance. In addition, the surfactant ingredient of Roundup is more acutely toxic than glyphosate itself, and the combination of the two is even more toxic.

In 2007, the South African Advertising Standards Authority has also discovered that Monsanto is guilty of lying when he advertises that “has not been reported any negative reaction to GM food.”

According to an EPA scientist, Monsanto has retouched and studies covered the dioxin contamination of a wide range of its products. She concludes that the company’s conduct constitutes a “long pattern of fraud”.

In 1999, the New York Times that the Monsanto PR company, Burson Marsteller, had paid fake protesters “pro GM food” to counter an anti-biotech group of protesters outside a meeting FDA in Washington DC.

1901

Monsanto is born in St. Louis, MO.

1996

Abernathy v. Monsanto Co., Owens v. Monsanto and several other lawsuits are filed in state and federal court in Alabama, over Monsanto’s pollution of people in Anniston

September, 1 1997

Solutia, Inc. is spun off from Monsanto Co. and assumes all control over (and liability for) Monsanto’s chemical operations

March 31, 2000

Monsanto merges with Pharmacia and Upjohn, forming Pharmacia. Almost 100 years after it was created, Monsanto ceases to exist, in name anyway … at least for a little while.

October17, 2000

Pharmacia creates an agricultural subsidiary, naming it Monsanto Co. Then, Pharmacia spins off 15% of the subsidiary in an initial public offering. (Pharmacia currently owns 85% of Monsanto Co.) Notably, the new Monsanto states in its 2001 proxy statement that the new Monsanto (not Pharmacia) is responsible for the liabilities of Solutia, Inc.(Old Monsanto’s subsidiary) in the event Solutia, Inc. cannot meet its obligations. In the Monsanto prospectus, see bottom of page 16 and pg 17 for information about Monsanto’s liability for damages Solutia is unable to pay. In the proxy statement, see page 5 and Appendix A.

November 29, 2001

On the eve of the old Monsanto Co.’s 100th anniversary, Monsanto’s parent company, Pharmacia, announces plans to make the “new” Monsanto a fully independent company by the end of 2002.

Despite this self-induced identity crisis surrounding the company name Monsanto, a quick look at the people involved reveals that essentially the same cast of characters has been with the (chemical) company since it was (old) Monsanto, including some executives who’ve worked for the company for decades.Pretty confusing stuff.

Monsanto’s (biotech) President and CEO, Hendrik Verfaillie, has been with Monsanto since 1976 in a variety of positions primarily overseeing the company’s herbicide products. Despite his recent assertion in published letters to the editors of several papers that Monsanto is “a new company under new management” Verfaillie himself was the President of the old Monsanto before he became President of the new Monsanto.

Another Monsanto Executive, Robb Fraley (Chief Technology Officer) has been with Monsanto since at least the 1980s.

Carl Casale, new Monsanto’s Vice President of North America, was old Monsanto’s Managing Director.

Brett Begemann, new Monsanto’s Managing Director of Asia Pacific, was old Monsanto’s Vice President of U.S. markets.

In fact, as a St. Louis Business Journal article from September 4, 2000 explains, “Hendrik Verfaillie, chief executive of the new Monsanto, will have 10 veterans of the old Monsanto … on his management team.” It includes a list of the Monsanto veterans.

New Monsanto’s Board of Directors also has many old Monsanto names on it. This includes John Reed, who joined Monsanto’s Board in 1985, and Michael Kantor, who’s been with Monsanto since at least 1997, according to press reports.

It seems as if the “new management” isn’t so new after all. Furthermore, Monsanto’s chemical spin off, Solutia, also has several executives who came from the old Monsanto, including several who have been around since the days of Monsanto’s peak PCB production in the U.S.

Solutia’s President and COO, John C. Hunter, has worked for Monsanto since 1969 (when Monsanto still produced PCBs) in a variety of chemical marketing and engineering positions. He was named Solutia’s President and COO when the new company was created in 1997.

Robert Kaley, Solutia’s oft-quoted media spokesperson on PCB issues, has been with Monsanto (the chemical company) since 1973, when Monsanto still produced PCBs. Before “leaving” to become the Director of Environmental Affairs for Solutia, Kaley was Director of Environmental Affairs for Monsanto.

Apparently, Solutia is just as confused as we are. In March, 2001, the company posted its history on its website, saying “Although Solutia was created just a few years ago, it has a century-long history.”

Wasn’t it Monsanto that just celebrated its 100th anniversary? But wait, today, the same page on Solutia’s website states that: “Solutia was founded in St. Louis in 1901 as Monsanto Company.”

Huh?

Almost the entire corporate leadership of Solutia has worked for Monsanto (the chemical company) since the days of PCB production, and the others have been with Monsanto since at least before the Abernathy v. Monsanto suit was filed in Anniston:

Hunter (President and COO) joined Monsanto in 1969

Barnickol (Senior VP, General Counsel, and Secretary) joined Monsanto in 1970

Holt (VP and General Manager, Performance Films) joined Monsanto in 1979

Saucier (VP and General Manager, Integrated Nylon) joined Monsanto in 1979

Hayden (VP Corporate Services) joined Monsanto sometime in the 1970s

Feldman (VP Human Resources and Public Affairs) joined Monsanto in 1991

Greer (VP New Ventures and Digital Strategy) joined Monsanto in 1996

Another attempt by Monsanto to put distance between it and its past was communicated by the CEO of both the old and new Monsanto Hendrik Verfaillie. He wrote in a letter to the editor of the St. Louis Post Dispatch that the Monsanto (biotech) Co. “is a different company,” “with new management” that “simply took the Monsanto name.”

He also claims that “as a new company, we also committed ourselves to doing business in an open and transparent way … embodied in the New Monsanto Pledge, our commitment to earn the trust of the communities we operate in.”

What the CEO failed to mention is that the Monsanto Pledge was actually written back in 1990, when Monsanto (the chemical company) needed some fresh public relations to defend itself from bad press about its pollution problems. The pledge was virtually identical to the “new” company pledge issued in 2000, only it focused on chemicals instead of biotech. It included lofty promises such as:

“Ensuring no Monsanto operation poses any undue risk to employees and neighboring communities.”

“Keeping Monsanto plants open to their communities and involving the community in plant operations.”

Even more disturbing is Verfaillie’s statement in his widely distributed letters to newspaper editors asserting that the new Monsanto is not connected to the trial in Anniston. However, Monsanto’s 2001 proxy statement, states:

“We have assumed the following liabilities from Pharmacia . . .all liabilities from Monsanto that were assumed by Solutia or any of its subsidiaries on September 1, 1997 in connection with its spinoff from former Monsanto, to the extent that Solutia fails to pay, perform, or discharge these liabilities.”
Monsanto’s 2001 Proxy Statement, Appendix A.

Despite all the new (or old) company’s best efforts, the name Monsanto will forever be synonymous with toxic chemical pollution and betrayal of trust for the people of west Anniston, Alabama and other polluted communities worldwide. As the Birmingham News editorialized on January 3, 2002:

“There’s not a spin doctor alive who could hide the truth about Monsanto’s wanton poisoning of the water and land in west Anniston.”

Monsanto and its Legacy with the FDA

By Terra Mealey

In our modern world we face total control by a group of corrupt elite who are hell bent on establishing a total police state control grid. We are told that they are there to protect us from all dangers, seen or unseen. Does all this control really protect us or is it a cover for a vast intrusion into our private lives? Can we really trust our government agencies to look out for our best interest or are they working towards their own personal interests? Worse, are they looking out for very the industries that they tasked to police. Lets look at Monsanto and its long term relationship with the Food and Drug agency.

Monsanto already controls the worlds seed production with the approval of the United Nations, so lets take a look at two other products that Monsanto has been so kind in bringing to our dinner table. Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that is labeled toxic by many prominent researchers and is even linked to symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. Despite widespread concern throughout the FDA, this product was approved for sale in the United States. This chemical sweetener is widely used through out the USA in many food products, yet Monsanto was not required to do important lab testing in order to gauge the effects this chemical had on the human body.

The next product I would like to look at is Monsanto’s genetically engineered Bovine growth. This hormone has been linked to breast cancer, colon cancer and prostate cancer. The Bovine growth hormone is given to dairy cows to increase their milk production. This product ,GBH, was approved by the FDA while still in its experimental stages. We must also note that GBH is not used in any other country besides the United States, in fact Monsanto went as far as to outlaw non GBH dairies from labeling their products non GBH. This leads us to the question, is the FDA controlling Monsanto or is Monsanto controlling the FDA?

After researching Monsanto, it is easy to see how they yield so much power, former employees are literally scattered throughout the government and some have even become leaders within the FDA.

For example, Margaret Miller was a former supervisor for Monsanto and was actively involved in the GBH program. In fact, she was the very person who created the report that was sent to the FDA seeking approval to use GBH in the milk industry. Soon after she finished the report, she left her job at Monsanto and went to work for the FDA as the new Deputy Director of Human Food Safety. Ironically, her first assignment with the FDA was to approve her own report, effectively poisoning our milk supply. Imagine that! As you can see, oversight is virtually non existence, and in my opinion its not to be found what so ever in our current government.

Micheal Taylor was the legal advisor to the FDA who fought for the labeling guidelines that kept the non GBH dairy farmers from labeling their products GBH free. By passing this unconstitutional law, the FDA has effectively stopped consumers from making an educated choice in regards to their food. When it comes to food freedom there is none, the government has chosen to make that choice for us. After shilling for Monsanto, he was given as job as head of the Monsanto division in Washington DC.

Lets look at a few more Monsanto / government connections. Donald Rumsfield our former Secretary of Defense was on the Board of Monsanto’s Searle pharmaceuticals, which is credited with bringing us the toxic sweetener Aspartame. Before being elected to the Supreme Court, Judge Clarence Thomas was a lawyer for the Monsanto corporation and lets not forget Anne Veneman, who became the US Secretary of Agriculture after she left the Board of Monsanto.

When a corporation becomes entangled into our government it can only lead to profit in favor of the corporation and less over sight for the people the government is supposed to protect. The government is supposed to work for our interests and our safety, but as this article has shown, that hasn’t taken place in years. Big corporation are controlling every aspect of our lives and we sure can’t count on the government WE THE PEOPLEcreated to do its job. Become aware my friends and together we can stop this government of lies and its money hungry partner. corrupt big business.

Post navigation

3 responses to “Historical quotations on Monsanto ..”

Can I simply say what a comfort to uncover somebody that truly understands what they’re talking about on the net. You certainly understand how to bring a problem to light and make it important. A lot more people really need to read this and understand this side of your story. I was surprised you aren’t more popular given that you certainly possess the gift.

I am not sure where you’re getting your information, but good topic. I needs to spend some time learning much more or understanding more. Thanks for magnificent information I was looking for this info for my mission.

Follow The Yellow Brick Road Free Blog!

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 570 other followers

Pages Views

The Meaning of the Yellow Brick Road

“You have plenty of courage, I am sure," answered Oz. "All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.”